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Hop-in-john

A stew of dried or green field peas, rice, bacon, red pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,434 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Hop-in-john

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the dried field peas. If using green peas, wash 2 cups instead.

  2. For dried peas, pour them into boiling water; for green peas, add them to cold water.

Stew

  1. Add bacon and boil in plenty of water until nearly tender.

  2. Stir in the washed rice, red pepper, and salt.

  3. Stew slowly until the peas and rice are very tender, shaking the pot occasionally to prevent scorching.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Peas + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dried field peas
Provide the main body and starchy, earthy texture of the stew as they soften.
Rice
Absorbs cooking liquid and thickens the stew as its starch releases during simmering.
Bacon
Adds fat and smoky, savoury flavour to the cooking water.

The step that matters

Stew slowly and stir occasionally. Starchy peas and rice settle and stick to the bottom of the pot, where they can scorch. Gentle heat and occasional shaking spread heat and keep the stew from burning while the peas and rice become fully tender.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, pepper):

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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